Day 39: Job 42:1-Psalms 24:10 - 90 Day Challenge

Beginning the Book of Psalms

Continuous Praise of the Lord 

To finish up yesterday's reading: Job, after hearing God, realizes that there's no way he could understand the Lord, and apologizes. The Lord is angry at the friends, for misleading Job, and has them perform large sacrifices and accept Job's prayers for them. Job lives on to have a long life and many children--and lived a life of wealth and luxury. 

On to: 


This book is filled from beginning to end of praises and songs to the Lord. Psalms has many authors, but David wrote most of the Psalms. For more information on who wrote what, check out this article.

David wrote most of the books from today's readings, with the exception of 1, 2, and 10, which are all uncredited. 

I love reading the psalms. I think they provide a way to worship the Lord and deliver insight to people's personal thoughts and struggles. Under he credited psalms, there's usually a context that the psalm is put into. For example, Psalm 3 is from when David was fleeing from his son, Absalom (remember that?), and Psalm 18 is from when the Lord delivered David from the hand of Saul and his enemies. 

I'd like to highlight some of my favorite verses and hear about yours! 

Psalms 5:11-12: In this verse, I feel that worship is validated, I feel that prayers of sorrow become prayers of praise. "Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them sing for joy." If they're taking refuge, why should they be glad? Because the Lord will provide it for them. 

This goes along with Psalms 9:9-10: Because the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed! The Lord is a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who truly know the name of the Lord will trust in Him--because He will never forsake the name of those who seek Him. 

Psalms 18:1-3: Takes place after David has been delivered from the hand of Saul, and I think it truly shows how willing we are to praise the Lord following deliverance from times of trial. The entire first verse is just "I love you, O Lord, my strength." That's it. Have you ever been so taken aback by your own salvation that all you're left saying is "Thank you. I love you," because that's all you can process to say? This, I believe, is David's version of that. (Also, I think Psalms 18:7-19 shows how truly powerful the Lord is, and is worth checking out.)

Psalms 19:14: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. I think I just like this one because I want to adopt it to become my personal motto. I want every action I take be one that glorifies the name of the Lord, I probably fail thousands of times every day, but this verse sort of centralizes that desire. And that really spoke to me. 

Psalms 22:19: Here, David calls on the Lord. Because not even David can get through trials without the Lord on his side, and I think the urgency in this verse is very relatable. 

Psalms 23:all of it. I love Psalms 23. Check out the song linked below (Eye of the Storm--Ryan Stevenson ft. GabeReal) if you have time. It's wonderful, and includes Psalms 23 at the end. 

With that, I'd like to leave with this: 

Whatever trials you face, you are not alone. Even if you happen to be the only person in the entire world going through whatever it is you are going to, you can always call on the name of the Lord to provide you with guidance, with patience, with understanding, with wisdom, to calm your heart, to lift your spirits. The Lord will never give you more than you are capable of handling and will never leave you or forsake you. Ever. 


Tomorrow's reading: Psalms 25:1-Psalms 45:14.
Have a wonderful and blessed day!
Jill Jafarace
Director of Student Ministries
New Leaf UMC

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